


This Truth Laid Bare

by BlueRam



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Genderbending, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 15:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8452018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRam/pseuds/BlueRam
Summary: It was just enough. The pain, the fear; she wasn't a little girl anymore...and maybe, just maybe...it would be enough to complete the task set upon her.A price he must pay to set her free-a price she would pay to set her free. Black...crimson red eyes...right here...her resolve would not shatter.





	

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

AN: As per request of my sister, the very music I was listening as I typed this.*sigh* she's so demanding sometimes, woes of younger siblings. **Mogwai- Les Revenants ( full album). Can be found on Youtube I think.** Don't know if what it'll do for you but... meh

* * *

 

Inhale…

Exhale…

Inhale…

Incense fills the senses, a fraudulent calm that wipes the mind, stills the soul. I could feel it, the elusive grasp of my forefathers call. My ancestors, and the blood they shed, the blood we shed…

The blood that I shed…

It was different now; our world, her world…his. No _his_ world had never been different, it had always been like this. Bathed in the blood of innocence, be it his or any other, touched by the hand of darkness…a stain that seeped into the soul. A stain that rusted good steel, tore at its edges, marked you for an eternity and one yet to come.

Below the haunting chorus of trained voices, shinobi of the leaf, weapons…yet children. Katas now the air they breathe, the water they drank, the song they will sleep to. That is, if you were brave to sleep, brave to see the flashes of man, woman, and child fall before... fall by your blade…crimson red.

The colour never seemed so haunting as it was then…now a reality she would live with, must live with. She was shinobi was she not?—kunoichi—Sakura always said kunoichi.

How many years was it? Two…ten, twelve maybe…did it even matter? Twelve years and their world was on the brink of destruction. In the distance… no, closer than that. At their borders war drums sang loud in their hearts. Strife, bloodshed…it was upon them, shattering the peace that once reigned, smearing the fire that was Konoha. Will of fire…did it even exist? Exist when day after day their men would be sent back in body-scrolls, when decay grew heavy; a weight no one wanted to carry.

When she must do this one last thing to prove her loyalty, to prove that her will would always lay with Konoha. Her mistress she vowed to serve with her body and soul until the day she could go no more, and even then her soul to give when all of it was done and over.

A life that was not her's to live, for she was Kunoichi…whom did they belong if not themselves…?

Konoha, they lived and breathe Konoha. They belonged to Konoha, and they belonged to him, for was he not their hand, their will. Even if she loathed him, the usurper, the murderer and thief, the true villain in the dead of night as they helped him realize his dream.

Help him or face charges of treason, help him…or Sakura would be killed before her very eyes.

_One or the other Naruto…choose wisely. Choose as a true ninja should, you are ninja aren't you girl?_

She longed for the day that this was not so, when she was but a willful girl that wanted so much her world had to offer. That exclaimed for dreams, and beautiful things with a heart of gold. No one could do wrong, second chances were just as good as third, and fourths and fifths. Where she grinned, a walk forward like the blind fool she was, indulged by her peers, by the ones she vowed to forever protect. Her precious ones…Haku, she should have seen his truth for what it was. How easily she dismissed him; bullheaded, obtuse…her Nind _ō_ _, her ninja way._

The wind came as a rush, so sudden that the wooden windows clattered against the light cream walls, shadows flickering as the candle light fought for its right to survive this night. Loose thin paper, fell from her cluttered desk, inkwell tilting over to spill deep black that dripped slowly unto the floor. The only noise in her imposed silence, her legs crossed as she sat straight back, carved steel rested across her lap.

How different she must look now, her back riddled with silvery scars, a vestige of her failures, for every mistake she made out there in the fields. Mistakes that could have cost her comrades, too ideal…too much innocence in her eyes. Her hair once flowing gold, sheared short, falling messily around her face, her bangs split in the middle. Once where she was soft... laid hard edges, a maturity forced upon her. A maturity that saw her body bloom into the weapon that could always be, Kyubi stirring restless within her very soul.

"Who would have thought? The reckless brat would become this, a formidable opponent, a weapon to be used like all those before her and yet to come." She couldn't help it, the tight clench of her hand over her blade, steel piercing her skin and with it the rich scent of iron. Almost as if she was already on the battlefield, high on the scent of a traitor...like Kiba and his ever present companion. Like Kiba who had gone MIA, traitor perhaps…and with him precious Hinata, warrior princess the older she had become.

"Danzo-sama." She all but spat, her blue eyes as fierce as they ever were, almost feral like the fox that was her spirit locked unto her target. The man she hated, the man who cut down Tsunade before their eyes, marked her traitor to the cause, with the sheep at the village cheering within their walls. They know not what they do. They knew not the monster they sought to put upon a barbed wire throne, the spineless Daimyo at his feet.

Danzo said nothing at first, as he slowly circled what she had come to call home for years, nothing but a mere barrack of cream and grey, no sight of the orange she had so once loved.

"You will leave tonight. There is word from the east, Iwa and Kumo dares to seek the last remaining Uchiha, secure his alliance and see Konoha fall." Danzo glared out at the village, not a soul on the streets, as candle lights illuminated windows and ninja's swiftly glided over roofs. In the distance, fire raged; a forest left to burn, and upon the winds hot embers that forever painted an almost beautiful picture in their sights. Beauty in this ugliness she had grown used to, the echo of children's battle cry the now forever song.

"He's just one man! Why hunt him-" She may not have changed as much as she had thought, her husky voice filled with so much rage and passion that she could barely keep at bay.

"Stupid girl! One man! In his body lay a thousand, and million more he would never reveal. Sasuke Uchiha is a threat as any other, a traitor you must cut down, or is it that your resolve waver? Kyubi no Kitsune, is it that you would see him live and Sakura Haruno die?" Danzo did not smirk, he didn't show much of anything really, except for the glint of madness within his eyes, the raging tides that she herself could be swept away should she ever slip…she hated it.

She despised him.

"Perhaps it is not my resolve that wavers. Perhaps it is you too weak, that you cower before one rogue ninja, an Uchiha that would never fold under your reign." She was overstepping, she could see it from the downturn of his mouth, how his withered hands bit into his skin. A dangerous game she continued to play, even with a hostage held over her head, yes…perhaps bullheaded Naruto was not as gone as she once thought.

"Careful girl, you speak compassion. Your words reveal the truth that burns so bright under your skin, tell me—what is it you feel for Sasuke Uchiha?" He pinned her in place, his eyes searching for the truth she would not lay bare, for what truth could she reveal if there was nothing to be said. Nothing that existed. It killed her, but she stood down, even when her hackles rose and he dared to turn his back to her, as if he trusted her not to plunge the blade of her kunai in his back. As if he saw little Naruto, loyal and just always fair even to her sworn enemies…little Naruto had no enemies.

"He is my enemy. I feel nothing, like so many others before me, he will fall by my blade." The words were bitter in her mouth, her head bowed in mock obedience, mock submission. Her chakra stirring to just attack! Stop acting the fool and attack! How could he hurt Sakura if he was dead!

She wasn't a fool though, she could engage him in battle, perhaps win even with his superior skill and tactics…but in the same breath Sakura would see her death, a silent signal from the man was all it took.

Danzo passed her a dead glance, nothing in his eyes, like always. He wanted to see her fall apart, give him a reason to strike her down…shinobi hid their faces well, and even the faces that one saw the shinobi would not be. A shadow in the night…and even then a shadow that did not exist.

"Is that so, your enemy? Naruto Uzumaki; _my dream is to be Hokage, my dream is to protect my precious people_ …yet Sasuke Uchiha is your enemy?" A play with words, like a snake…so simple at first, until its fangs buried deep into the soft flesh of your neck.

She would not say a word, like Kakashi before her she would look on in cold silence.

"Bring me his head, Naruto Uzumaki. Lest her head be the one I have." He was gone after that, and with his absence the air was still cold as ever. The light of the candles blew out, leaving a trail of white smoke that danced languidly, for every slow twirl and twist. She wondered if this was what chains truly felt like, her movements hindered by the man she should call leader. The ninja way…submit to one's superior, it made her sick.

"And so the brat must grow up. One or the other…it seems that this time, it is your neck that shall feel the bite of my blade…I would say forgive me but…you are not a man of forgiveness, and I see that now." Even to herself her voice sounded hoarse, like she had been screaming for days, for years.

In a sense…she had.

* * *

Screams of rage echoed in the underground cells below, the clattering of chains loud. Root Anbu stood as still as the statutes they were taught to be. Lifeless beings as the dirt caverns that served as cells shook, small rocks falling to scatter across the dimly lit floors.

"Damn it to hell! Face me you coward!" It was Sakura, chained heavily to the wall of her cell, weighted down by seals that glowed ominously for her every fight. It was the only way to hold her down, keep her trapped. She was no weak child anymore, her skin marked with the signs of her victory, scars she survived, scars she was proud of. She thrashed against her restraints, clenched fist held above her head pulled taut as she struggled forward only for them to snap back, the force of it forming terrifying craters. No, Sakura was no weak woman, and she would see her death before she allowed her body to be held hostage over her friends head.

"Danzo! You say you are a warlord! What warlord runs from a weak little girl with his tail between his legs?!" Sakura snarled in mockery, she knew Danzo couldn't hear her, only his pet projects…and they might as well me be dead for how much they truly connected to the world.

She couldn't tell how long it had been, maybe months, it was more than weeks. The nights and days bleeding into one…the same night and day she could never differentiate trapped in her own personal hell. Her clothes were ripped, her wounds infected, she could tell…her body fighting the same infection with her fevered skin and racing pulse. Her lips were chapped, dehydrated and her wounds would not clot, the deep wound in her side. A gift for trusting too much in the time they now lived, her squad turning on her on the behest of Danzo and she too proud to call out to Naruto who was a ways ahead to help her.

She didn't need saving she had told herself. In truth she hadn't, she had taken them all down, watched as her kunai embedded in their throats. Watched how she expertly flipped over another, breaking his neck in one swift move, hand glowing green with chakra as she paralyzed another. She hadn't seen it coming, Kiba turned on her! She his close friend, regret in his eyes as he pleaded forgiveness, a feral need to protect what was most precious to him. Danzo had gotten to him before they had left to disseminate forces of Suna, the sand village were no longer their allies, not with Danzo in power. With the mad man no one was their ally, a lesson Suna learned when their supply chain had suddenly been cut off. When negotiations pushed them in a corner where if it were any other in power than Gaara, Suna would find themselves powerless.

Danzo had Hinata in his grasp, pregnant with Kiba's child, a terrible time to bare life, but a blessing in itself. She supposed she could not grudge him his decision, could not grudge him his right to protect his love…she could still resent, she could still be bitter, for his move saw him and Hinata free, while powerful Naruto became slave on her behest.

She could hate him for that! Hate him for the domino he had let fall…it was he that had caused her sister to suffer.

She cared not for herself.

"Augh!" Sakura screamed, the chains rattling furiously as chakra swirled under her skin, burning like acid for how much it was bottled in her blood. Blood dripped from her nose, sliding down her torn lips, a sting she was used to…a sting she may no longer have truly felt. Her vision swam, and then she felt it, almost like something tore in her heart…a raging almost crippling pain in her chest. She coughed raucously, terrible hacks that brought the taste of iron to her lips. She spat to the side, blood…crimson blood.

So this would be it huh?

Fight the good fight to be destroyed by betrayal, be destroyed by her pride because she had not called out. As far as Naruto was…she would have heard.

_Foolish girl_

Sasuke's voice. The one moment she had seen him before all this madness, how cold dark eyes bore into her own and found her wanting. She hadn't been strong then, she still dreamt and even if she had woken up, it hadn't been enough…Naruto had left her too hadn't she? But it was with her blessings, her long golden hair that she loved to force braids in, that wide grin, which could split her face open if she tried hard enough.

That imaged blurred in sight of the woman Naruto was now. Tall, strong, muscled just enough, scars here and there that she refused to let heal. A reminder she had said…a reminder of her mistakes…but they weren't mistakes were they…no they were victories, for how many innocent did she save with her decisions?

Too much to count.

Sakura's head was bowed as her vision swam yet again, a sad smile on her lips as her fist clenched. She could see how Naruto's wide grin had morphed in an almost permanent scowl, how sharp blue eyes had become. The eyes of a huntress that would tear down all in her path for she was Kunoichi, she had only but to destroy her leash, let go of her burden.

Let go of her.

"Sakura?" It must have been a trick of her mind, it must have been! It couldn't be-

"Sakura, can you hear me?" Sakura looked up to see Naruto, her precious sister. Hands held tight to the bars of her cell, blue eyes so fierce softening even with the undertone of anger. Anger for the state she had been reduced to.

"Stupid, what are you doing here?" Sakura smiled, she would not acknowledged the sting if tears in her eyes, neither would she let them fall. They were for her own privacy, where no one would ever see them, no one could ever tell.

"I'm going to get you out of here! You hear me! I'm going to-"

"Look around, Naruto. This cell is covered in seals, seals that would kill a Jinchuuriki the moment they set foot here. You can't Naruto, not unless Danzo…" Her smile was bitter, her chains rattling for slight movement, yet somehow there was a touch of peace…she could hear her sister's voice one more time.

"He wants his head. If I do this, if I prove my loyalty he will-"

"You are not naïve, Naruto! Don't pretend to be! Danzo will never honour his word, and even if he would,could you do it? Could you kill the man that we both love, take off his head and raise it on a pike as the useless offering that it is?!" Sakura glared, green eyes filled with so much hate at the thought of the man, so much pain for what Naruto was willing to do to see her free.

"I don't love him. I have never loved him." Naruto whispered, glaring at her slender hands, calloused and battle worn, small nicks and scars barely noticeable.

"You lie. Wasn't it you who looked me in the face, told me you hated liars the moment I asked you to stop? To break the promise you made to me."

"He doesn't know love… and neither do I, or you for that matter. We are shinobi, we are-"

"I love you don't I?' Sakura whispered, her voice cracking, before she bit her lip the pain increasing tenfold in her chest.

She had little time.

"Run, Naruto! Run and don't look back…leave me here!" Sakura began fiercely.

"I won't, I will protect with the last breath that I have, with the only strength that I can give! It is my Nind _ō_! My ninja way!" Naruto snarled, grip so tight that if the metal of the cell was not enforced and so designed, she would have ripped them apart in naught but a second.

"Ah, so the true Naruto still lives. I am glad." Sakura whispered, her eyes drooping ever slowly, her vision fading to black, blue eyes all she could see…all she could ever see.

"Run, Naruto. Run away with him. When you see him again, let him know that I love him, will always love him…but you I love more."

"Sakura! Sakura, don't do this! Sakura!"

* * *

The trees, their branches tore into her skin. Scorn perhaps, disgust that she would do this, that she would set out to kill one so close to her for the sake of...

"I'll free you Sakura! If it's the last thing I do!" Naruto snarled, launching herself from another limb as she caught unto his trail, or what seemed like it. He was toying with her she could tell, days she sought after him, like a wolf that lusted for blood. He would lead her astray, watch her from the distance, cloaked in shadows, crimson eyes bright with that smirk that spelt nothing inherently good. A dark soul that had been lost long before her, a soul that resonated with her own as disgusted as she had grown to become at the thought.

At least that was what she had told herself, for the twelve years he dared to leave, dare to leave them, his hand thrust through her chest. The same hand that then caressed her hair, stained with both their bloods as he laid her down on the banking of that river. Sat with her in cold silence as she struggled to breathe, till he sensed Kakashi and he left them...left her once more. The only pity he would bestow her, his one act of kindness as he rushed off to the making of his insanity.

Naruto all but snarled as she escaped the confines of the forest, a clearing just up ahead as she held shurikens in tight in both hands; ready to launch at the earliest opportunity, her katana strapped to her back.

She didn't think, didn't second guess it. She launched her attack, shuriken slicing through the air as the locked to their still target. It was too slow, the target shunshined, too fast that she barely dodged the incoming torrent of kunai's one grazing her cheek as she flipped back, her sword already in hand as her eyes quickly scanned her surroundings. It was in a fraction of a second, the sound of her shuriken just landing in empty space with a resounding thud.

"First blood. You disappoint me, Naruto. I was under the impression that you were ninja." Sasuke stood a ways before her, hand casually on the hilt of his Kusunagi. He may be taunting her, seemed relaxed even, but she knew him. He saw everything, his eyes would trail her every movement; he was not underestimating her.

"We must live to disappoint the ones we love." Naruto glared, steel eyes waiting for his move, watching as he stood silent, emotionless. He had changed too it seemed, changed in that he had grown into the man that he was meant to be. He was tall, body a sure weapon, trained to eliminate all those who stood in his way. Like her, like they always were…two sides of the same coin. His hair was longer too, a scar running up the side of his arm, had Sasuke Uchiha really made a mistake, had he faltered in battle. He seem to realize her gaze, a snarl forming as he pulled his sword and readied his stance.

"Yes, we must live to disappoint the ones we _love_. Come dance with me, like we've always done!"

Metal clashed against metal in that moment, a resounding screech as they parted only to cross blades again. They would not give! She would not give! She would free Sakura, she woul-

She dodged, his blade slicing over her head, with a sickening ring, he flipped as he came after her, a swipe of wind as lightning fast hands threatened to deal her deadly blows. She twisted around him, the ring of metal hitting metal striking in her ear. She paid it no head, the sweat rolling down her temple, as he came full force, a sharp swing from her left now her right!

He was smirking at her, a taunt…no! The lust for battle, the same lust she would deny in her blood.

She barely caught it this time, the way his katana streaked over her own—so fast that the tip nearly pierced her neck.

"You've improved!" He commented, flipping back as she aimed for his head, sword held in that strange style he had developed over the years.

"I'll have your head. I'll see Sakura live!" Naruto snarled, charging after him, stumbling as he harshly grabbed at her neck, flipped her over.

She landed with a harsh grunt, the sound of a thousand birds chirping in her ear, birds—where did birds—

When had he gotten so close!

When did he move to even touch the skin if her neck, much less fling her like a rag doll, She hadn't time to think, rolling over as a lightening streaked hand—chidori—how long ago had she seen it—how long was it that Kakashi and all she knew were dead—pierced through the ground she had once lain.

"But Sakura is dead." Sasuke spoke almost softly, almost for it was more cold than a means of comfort as he slowly pulled his hand from the crater that had formed from his raging chakra.

"Sakura is dead, and you dance to the tune of a mad man…a broken doll." Sasuke glared, unaffected as Naruto glared fiercely at him. Willing him dead by just a glance as he pulled herself from the ground, her katana dragging through the dirt at her rise.

"I'll have your head. If you die, she lives." Naruto shouted, charging blindly, Sasuke was ready for her a sharp slice and his sword cut through hers, the metal sent sailing across the expanse of the barren field, as he grabbed her around her waist.

She fought him, every step of the way, even as his hands bit into the skin of her neck, as if to choke her, her skin slick with sweat.

"Sakura is dead, Naruto!"

"Let go of me! Let go of me you bastard!" Screaming in rage as he pinned her against him, she tore at his clothes, at his skin. She drew blood, as he struggled to keep her confined, the stir of malevolent chakra burning his throat.

Kyubi, of course. How dare he forget!

"Naruto!" Sasuke snarled, watching as she lost control in his arms, the marks on her cheeks deepening.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you, Sasuke!" She screamed, but he wouldn't let her go. He never let her go! Even when he said he hated her, tried to kill her, he never let her go! She hated him for it, for being the way he was, hated him because in some misguided thought he was the reason Sakura was dead, he was the reason Konoha would fall…did fall.

For what was the will of fire in the hands of a man so wicked?

Hated him, because she loved him, even stripped of all that she was. Stripped of that little girl who dreamed of dreams.

She hated him, because he saw what would have happened long before them, and she, willful Naruto Uzumaki had ignored him.

Her struggle calmed, his hold tight around her, his hand no longer at her neck but around holding tight around her waist. He felt hot behind her, a furnace to the coldness that she had become. He felt like he always did, silent…strong, but still very much a cruel man. Yes even in his hold, she knew he was cruel, for what did Sasuke Uchiha care for-

"I said a time would come where I would have to wait for you. Wait for you to see that the will of fire does not exist—I am still waiting for you, Naruto." His voice was deep, still cold…yet his hand tightened around her.

She said nothing, above them thunder rumbled, rain clouds slowly covering the sky, and the winds chilling against their skin.

"It was just enough. The pain, the fear; I'm not a little girl anymore Sasuke. I do not believe in love or foolish things, it is what you would have wanted. So why…?" Naruto whispered, hard eyes staring out at the barren field they had come. They were a far ways from Konoha, in the distance she could feel the signatures of Root ninja, ready to kill her for this treason. Her hand rested over Sasuke's, his skin was like her's, battle hardened.

He didn't answer, she didn't expect him to. Even when they were like this, especially when they were like this, where every breath he took she could feel.

"I am waiting, still waiting." Sasuke finally spoke, his chin resting atop her head as he too looked out in the distance, eyes emotionless as they always were. He was counting the gathering enemies in his head she could tell, even wrapped around her, battle would sing true in his blood first and foremost. He painted a true image of contradictions.

"She said that she love you…but loves me more. Sakura is—" She said no more, kunai suddenly in her hand as the Root ninja grew closer.

"Before I left I said I—I am waiting, Naruto." I said I loved you he would have said, it is what came from his lips the moment he plunged his hand through her chest.

"In the end, I will have your head and your heart." Naruto gripped his hand tight, it would have hurt if it was any other. She could feel his smirk in her hair, how possessive his chakra felt as it wrapped around the two.

"No believe it? I almost miss that of you. Naruto Uchiha." With that they were gone, a torrent of ninja's attacking the place they once stood as the memories of the foolish girl and foolish boy at the river side invaded her mind. They married at twelve, they married like the fools they were… Sakura swinging her feet at the dock, smiling at the two amused for it couldn't be real. Kakashi and his one eyed grin, little orange book in hand as he watched the strange predicament that would win him his next bet.

Her resolve would not shatter she said…

Yet here it lay in a million tiny pieces…

Before the image of black eyes that so soon turned crimson, toma spinning…always spinning.


End file.
